Tasting Purple
by starah
Summary: Sometimes Sokka is just too clueless to what Toph's really thinking. Missing moment from S3E3: The Painted Lady. Takes place before Katara and Aang return from the factory. Oneshot.


[Disclaimer: I own nothing from 'Avatar' but the warm giddiness I get from the show.

It was cold. At first, I thought it was that which was keeping me up. But when I ran my tongue along the roof of my mouth and actually felt friction, I realised groggily that I was incredibly thirsty.

I sat up and stretched hard, feeling a couple of knuckles pop as I did so. No one seemed to be around, judging from the stillness in the air. I sleepily crawled towards Appa's rumbling vibrations before curling up against him. He gave a welcome rumble in his throat.

Lying against Appa's form, I could hear every groan of tense muscle, every low beat of his heart, the funny squeaky noises digestive systems tend to make... Really, as far as I could tell, there seemed nothing different with him now than before. Still, since he apparently had a purple tongue, he was supposed to really sick, so I tried not to lean too much of my weight against his fluffy warmth.

Having no concept of colour, it's hard to figure exactly what it means to have a purple tongue, and what's so wrong about it. By the way the guys were so confused about it, I could guess it means something's definitely out of whack. Speaking of them, where'd they all go?

I'd been ready to stand up and search, when I felt Sokka's unmistakable stomp through the ground before I heard him mutter, "Where the heck is she?!" A short distance away, I felt him kick at a small rock on the ground. Just for fun, I flicked my index finger upward, and the rock came bouncing back into his shin.

"Ow!! What the--" I tried to feign sleep, but it was clearly a belated attempt, because he turned to my direction and paused. "Ha ha, Toph. Good morning to you, too. You're up early." I couldn't help a grin, and bit down at the inside of my lower lip hard before it turned into a ridiculously goofy smile. It was so annoying how much of an effect it had on me to hear his voice first thing in the mornings.

"Where is everyone?" I asked as he came over to sit by me, and he sank back into Appa's fur with a groan.

"I have no idea, but when they come back they've got some major explaining to do."

"What do you mean?" I now realised how dry my throat was, because at the last word my throat stuck. I added, "Do we have any water?"

"Actually, we don't. I mean, not clean water." It sounded like he was talking through his teeth; was he that irritated? "I woke up this morning needing a drink, and tried to wake up Katara and ask if she'd Water Bend some out of the gunky river for us."

He leaned over to the side, dragged towards him a large, soft mass, and then shook something vigorously in my face. It smelled grassy. "It took me a minute to realise I was trying to wake up a pile of moss! She stuffed a whole lot into her sleeping bag. Now, I wonder why she bothered."

By the stressed, sarcastic tone in his voice, I knew we were both guessing the same thing. "She's the Painted Lady, isn't she."

"I'd bet my boomerang she is," He grumbled, "I thought the whole thing was weird, Katara insisting we help out the villagers, me refusing, and then this mysterious, ever-so-benevolent spirit comes out of nowhere. I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner!"

"How has she been helping them out?" I wondered out loud, rather bemused, and Sokka suddenly let out a small yelp before collapsing next to me, smacking his forehead with his palm.

"I can't believe this just occurred to me. The new supplies the village had bore insignias incredibly like the Fire Nation symbols. Except, of course, I now realise they weren't 'incredibly like', they really were Fire Nation! Katara's been stealing supplies from the factory!"

"Wow, Sokka," I commented, "I can't believe you missed that."

"Hey, you didn't notice, either!" I could tell by the way he just twisted around that he was looking right at me and jabbing his finger in my direction. Hmm. He never failed to amaze in how frequently he forgot this crucial fact about me. It was nice whenever he forgot, though I'd never admit that out loud.

Besides, why pass up the chance to make fun of him? Despite being a pretty smart guy, he made it so easy to poke fun at him, and it was too fun every single time. I decided to be nice this time round, though; my voice was scratchy from thirst.

"Ahem?" I did the blankest look I could muster in his general direction.

"Oh, yeah." I could hear sheepishness creep into his voice, slightly deflating, and I wondered if he was smiling sheepishly. I wished he was.

"Is Aang in cahoots with her?" I asked, and Sokka shrugged.

"I don't know, but he wasn't around when I woke up. He better be out dragging her back here. The moment they return, we are leaving."

"Uh, is that an option?" I gestured towards the huge fluffy mass we were leaning against. "Appa's sick, remember?"

"Right, of course." He leaned further into Appa as he groaned.

"It's pretty convenient for Katara that Appa got sick, huh." I remarked, rubbing a spot on Appa's side, and the bison let out a low grunt.

"Yeah," Sokka sighed, and I felt him ruffle Appa's fur at a spot close to my own hand. I quickly withdrew it. "It sucks that we don't even know what's wrong with him to begin with."

"Well, like Katara said, it's probably th--" I was about to say 'the filth around here' but my throat stuck from dryness, and I choked. While I was trying to work up saliva in my mouth, Sokka leaned close to me and gently touched my shoulder as he asked,

"Hey, are you alright?"

Goosebumps travelled down my spine from the bare skin his callused fingertips had brushed against. I turned my face away slightly, because I knew it would betray how much that little touch had jolted me. I swallowed with some difficulty before speaking.

"I'm fine, just thirsty."

"Right, you wanted water, didn't you?" He sounded guilty, and I knew he felt bad for ranting about Katara for so long. "Give me a second, and I'll try to find something in the saddle."

His voice grew distant as I heard him clamber onto Appa's back, and he began sifting through our supplies. "When I checked this morning the waterskins were empty... but there might be something... Oh, these might do."

He hopped back down, and I felt that familiar, slightly unsteady way he landed. He wobbled just the slightest bit before plopping down beside me and grasping my wrist. Turning my palm face up, he put a pouch of something into it.

"We'll have to wait for Aang and Katara to come back before we get any water safe enough to drink," He said as I curiously dipped my hand into the pouch and felt something cool and firm meet my fingers. "I think Katara brought these along from a previous village."

"Oh, berries!" I scooped out a couple and popped them into my mouth. As I bit into them, a sweet and slightly sour juice burst out and filled my mouth, and I sighed with relief. "So these are what Appa was munching on the past two days."

"Appa ate these?" Sokka reached over and took some as he spoke, and I nodded, popping a few more onto my tongue.

"When I asked what Katara was feeding Appa yesterday morning, she said she was feeding him some berries she bought. I thought they'd be really big or something, but they're kind of tiny."

"Mm. They're pretty good, but they're kind of sour," He remarked, and we sat in amiable silence for a while. He didn't take any more berries, so I helped myself to them.

"Hey, Toph," Sokka said suddenly, "Do you think it really is so terrible of me to not want to stay behind and help these people out?"

I tried to swallow as much juice sticking in my teeth before replying. "Not really. I mean, you have a point - there are loads of people out there who need help, and we can't really go around helping them all."

"Exactly!" He was facing me when he said this, and I hoped I didn't have juice stains all over my mouth. "We have a mission! We'll never reach dad in time if we don't stay focused, right?"

"If you know that, then what's the problem?" I asked, "Is Katara getting to you?"

He hesitated. "Well, maybe. I don't know." I felt him shift, and then little vibrations in the earth told me he was scrawling circles on the ground with his finger. "I mean, I still stick to my opinion. We can't hang around and help everytime we see people in need, you know? But... Katara makes me feel like I'm so heartless sometimes."

Something knocked in my chest, and I busied myself with another berry, trying to ignore the urge to reach out and touch him. "I'm a lone child," I said instead, "So I don't really know what it's like to have a sibling around. But I can tell that Katara doesn't really think you're heartless."

"Yeah?" He stopped drawing circles in the ground, and from slight shift I sensed, I knew he was looking at me again. Trying not to feel too self-conscious, I said quietly,

"Yeah, really. If she did, she wouldn't try to convince you so much to stay and help the villagers out. I mean, she wouldn't even bother, if she didn't think you had it in you to care."

He let out a rueful chuckle. "She's always been like that, assuming the worst in me. I guess it's because we've been together so long, we've fallen into this kind of pattern." He poked at the ground again as he continued, "I admit, I've always given her a hard time whenever she gets too optimistic, or idealistic, about things. But I hate seeing her get hurt whenever her expectations fall short."

This time I couldn't help myself; I reached out to lightly touch the hand he was using to poke at the ground. He stopped poking, and he let out a low sigh. I took it to be a good sign he wasn't moving his hand away.

"I'm sure deep inside, she knows, Sokka." I sounded so awkward; reassuring people was not something I was practiced in. I still tried, though. "You're not heartless."

A silence fell between us, his whole body motionless. I moved my hand away from his, my brows furrowing in confusion. Had I said something wrong?

Suddenly, he leaned over, so close I could feel his breath at my cheek. I didn't have to be able to see his intense gaze to feel it acutely. Before I could react, his callused thumb was running along my jaw, his fingers tucking under my chin. "S-Sokka?!" I finally gasped, instinctively backing away but just burying myself a little deeper into Appa's fur.

"Just hang on a sec," Sokka said, his voice low, so I stayed as still as I could with my heart fighting its way out my throat, my skin resonating with tingling warmth where his fingers were. I knew my cheeks were heated up enough for him to be able to see it, and I wondered wildly if I had a good reason to Earth Bend him way over to the side this moment.

His thumb slightly grazed over my lower lip, then pressed onto it slightly. Oh, oh, oh. He was going to kiss me. Panic was rising monumentally from the pit of my stomach, sweat gathering at my palms. Why was he going to kiss me? What had I done to even remotely suggest I wanted him to kiss me? And even though I did want it, and had secretly imagined it several times before, that wasn't the point! Wait, was I supposed to close my eyes--?

"Purple."

He let go of me abruptly. My skin was still tingling from his touch, my thoughts still jumbled and extremely inappropriate, so it took me a few seconds to register what he had just said.

"Uh, what?" I hoped he wouldn't notice how high-pitched my voice had become.

"Your tongue," He said shortly, "It's purple."

Oh, oh... oh. He was no longer even looking at me, but was stalking off somewhere. I felt the heat in my cheeks drain away for a second before heating right back up again, tenfold. To say I was 'mortified' hit no where close to the actual thing.

"That Katara, I don't believe her!" He seethed, and I knew he was staring at Appa's tongue now. Lovely, he was comparing my tongue to a giant flying bison's. To think I'd been expecting him to kiss me was such a ridiculous thought now, I wanted to Earth Bend a hole beneath me and hide in it forever.

Forcing myself to get a grip, I said grimly, "So Katara's been lying to us."

"We are most definitely leaving the moment she gets back here with Aang!" Sokka growled, and I was just glad he was too preoccupied to notice me bury my face into Appa's fur and groan.

"Well, at least you're okay, Appa," I said quietly, patting him, and Sokka agreed,

"Yeah, I'm glad you're okay, buddy."

Appa let out a happy rumble of noise, and then I remembered my earlier musings. "Uhm, Sokka? Does it look really weird to have a purple tongue?"

"Well, it's not normal," He said, sounding slightly distracted - no doubt he was thinking up what to yell at Katara - and he looked at my direction as he continued, "I wouldn't worry though, I'm sure the colour will go away soon. Eat a bunch more, it'll be good to show her evidence!"

So much for ever trying to impress this guy with normal antics. As I popped another berry into my mouth, Sokka said, "I only ate like, two of those. Is my tongue purple?"

A short pause, in which he was presumably sticking his tongue out at me. For a moment, I thought about simply repeating my 'ahem' from earlier, but the really mortified part of me demanded revenge, even if he wasn't aware of what I'd just suffered.

"Omigosh," I gasped theatrically, pointing at his general direction with a horrified expression, "It's green!!"

"Wh-what?!" He yelped frantically, "But why would it be..." I turned my face away, shaking with laughter as I let the realisation slowly dawn upon him.

"You really like doing that, don't you?" He grumbled, and I just smirked at him. He really did make it so easy, but I loved his reactions too much to pass up the chance. He muttered, "It probably isn't purple..."

Before I could tease him further, I felt two pairs of encroaching footsteps - one steady and strong, the other light and floaty. I knew those footsteps from anywhere.

"They're coming back." I announced.

"Finally!!" He reached down and dragged Katara's moss-filled sleeping bag forward. Closer to the cliff-face, where the path Aang and Katara were following was, Sokka unceremoniously dumped the sleeping bag. He scuffed at the ground impatiently with his heel, and I could sense his rigid posture, his hands on his hips as he silently gathered steam.

I wasn't going to let him look like the only one who found Katara's actions unreasonable, as though he were really heartless. Although he had just made me feel so embarrassed I would have gladly gone under earth for a month, and we'd never get even on that, I felt it extremely important to stand here with him. A part of me whispered that even if Katara, his own sister, would assume the worst in him out of habit, he would always have an ally in me.

I stood along beside him and settled my hands on my hips, too, the pouch of berries dangling from my fingers, and together we waited.

-fin- 


End file.
